Okay, so as a mom, I try to keep things as even as possible between my kids, but as I was looking through the past few posts, I realized that there are no recent pictures of Sean. So this blog is dedicated to my "middle" child, the one and only Sean-Sean. There is so much to tell, I'm not even sure where to start. Maybe that's why I haven't written about him. Sean is twenty months old today. He is an amazing little creature. As some of you know, we have been concerned about Sean's development. He always seems to hit milestones, but he consistently hits them very late. At his 18 month check-up, the pediatrician was very concerned because Sean was underweight. He has always been small, but he dropped from the 5th percentile down to the third percentile, and basically had not gained any weight in the past few months. I had already planned to contact the local Infant and Toddler Program because Sean was not talking at all and was not even trying to communicate with pointing or gestures. With his cleft issues, we knew he was prone to speech problems/delays, and we wanted to get him help asap. But now with his feeding issues causing such alarm, I called them as soon as I got home that day. Sean was first evaluated by a four member team consisting of a Speech Therapist, an Occupational Therapist, a Physical Therapist, and a Developmental Specialist. He was then referred to see a Developmental Pediatrician. In the end, they found that Sean has a developmental delay. His speech is almost a full year behind, and cognitively, he measures around a 13 month old. His physical development was a little behind, but still on target. He will receive speech therapy once a week for the next six months, and then he will be re-evaluated. We are very lucky to have a speech therapist who is very knowledgeable about cleft lip and sub-mucous cleft palate. I have very high hopes for her ability to help Sean. It seems like ever since I made the phone call to have him evaluated, Sean has been improving by leaps and bounds. I began using sign language with him, and he can now do 7 different signs. He has begun pointing to everything, and even says a few words. We still have a long way to go, but we are very optimistic. The developmental pediatrician understood our fears about autism, and saw the same red flags that we see, but reassured us that she did not feel that Sean was autistic. We do have an appt. in May to meet with a Genetics doctor to have Sean tested for any genetic problems that could be contributing to his delays. Right now, the doctor thinks that the delays could be a combo of personality (Sean doesn't want to communicate), heredity (Michael was a late talker- imagine that!), and his sub-mucous cleft palate (he may not have the mouth muscles needed to produce certain sounds). And with speech delays come cognitive delays. Everything is intertwined at this age. You can't learn about something if you don't have a name for it.
Now let me move on to his ear problems. (I warned you- there is a lot to tell!) Sean had tubes put in in August. He developed an ear infection in October. The tubes were not able to drain the infection because the drainage kept crusting up and blocking the tubes. We got that mess cleared up in November, and in December, his ears started draining again. At least the tubes were working now! The problem is, it is now March and his ears are still draining. They never stopped. We have tried four different drops in his ears, and a mega-dose of oral antibiotics, and nothing seems to clear up the drainage. So at Sean's appointment with the ENT today, it was decided that he would need another surgery to go in, clean out the ears, possibly take out the tubes, and see what the heck's going on in there. I feel so conflicted about this. I want to get his ears cleared up- but surgery! This will be his third surgery in less than two years. I'm trying to get an appointment with another ENT that I have heard good things about for a second opinion. Right now, it's a one month wait to see him, and his surgery is scheduled for two weeks from now. Poor little fella.
So here are some photos of my little leprechaun from St. Pat's day. As I said, he is amazing. Through all of this, he has remained such a sweet little boy. He melts the hearts of all who meet him. He loves to play and loves to cuddle. He will babble out a sentence without a single recognizable word, and yet I can't help answer him because he's just so excited about something. People always say the middle child gets ignored. And yes, come October, he will have a lot of competition for my attention, but there is a space in my heart carved out just for him that no one else could ever fill. Just look at this face and you'll understand....
